Footprints in the forest - Fern

The second step is the verification of the ISO certification of the regional branch of the
National Forest Office (ONF, which manages all public forests) and the Private Forest
Regional Center (CRPF, which trains forest owners and validates their management
plans).
Once these two forest institutions have gone through the external audit and received a
PEFC certificate, all forests in that region become automatically “certifiable”. In order for
private forest owners to become part of the regional certification program, an agreement
to follow PEFC’s minimum requirements and rules on the use of the logo is signed
between the owner and the regional entity. The agreement is a one page letter and the
minimum requirements are usually around ten points, which include some performance
requirement (such as no plantation on peat bog, no chemicals cans left in the forest…) and
process requirements (such as trainings). As regards to public forests, they are all certified
as long as the ONF in that region has received a certificate during the second step of the
process.
The forest institutions (ONF and CRPF) are required to have ISO certification before
they can get certified by PEFC. However, to date, PEFC France has accepted to certify
for two years the forest institutions who are not yet ISO certified (none are ISO certified
yet but have committed to start the process to get ISO certification).
Forest institutions in 11 regions are PEFC-certified, which in turn means that all the
forests in these regions are certifiable. As of July 16, 5643 private forest owners were
PEFC certified (which means they have signed an agreement with the regional entity).
WWF France estimates that more than 50% of all State forest are PEFC certified. In the
Burgundy region, all the State forests have already been PEFC certified.
Criteria VII: Cost effectiveness and voluntary nature
Costs vary from region to region. In Burgundy for example, certification costs are 11
euros under 4 ha, and 11 euros plus 0.11 euros/ha/annum for properties above 4 ha 93 .
Costs are estimated to vary between 0.10 to 0.20 euros per hectare, depending on the
subsidies the regional PEFC manages to get. WWF France estimates that 50% of the
certification costs are subsidized, in particular by regional councils.
In case of group certification, forest owners are required to sign an engagement letter if
they want to participate in the group certification. In case of regional certification, only
forest owners signing an engagement are certified. Only participating forest owners are
considered certified.
93 PEFC France. Press release 15 March 2002
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